EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton called on Chad on Thursday to detain Sudan's visiting President Omar al-Beshir and hand him over to an international court to face genocide charges. Ashton "urges Chad to respect its obligations under international law to arrest and surrender those indicted by the ICC (International Criminal Court)," her press office said in a statement.

According to her, Chad was a signatory of the Rome Statute, the founding document of the ICC, obliging it to detain any person on its territory wanted by the court.

Beshir was greeted by President Idriss Deby Itno when he arrived in Chad on Wednesday.

Chadian Foreign Minister Moussa Faki Mahamat said Beshir had "nothing to worry about" as he attended a meeting Thursday of the Community of Sahel-Saharan States.